The Glamis Imperial Sand Dunes, some standing hundreds of feet tall, are located
in an unincorporated stretch of desert in southeastern California spanning 118,000

acres of gigantic mountainous terrain. It’s nestled in the corner of California’s
borders with Arizona and Mexico, and its closest city, Brawley, CA, has a
population of fewer than 25,000 people. There are few manmade structures in the
desert, aside from the Glamis Store, Boardmanville Trading Post, the All-American
Canal in the southern portion and Coachella Canal along the eastern border, a
stretch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and a handful of brick bathrooms at a
couple of the otherwise barren camping sites. To a casual observer it may look like
the most uninhabitable and least welcoming place on Earth.